The Future of Christianity

4min Snip

00:00

Play full episode

Summary

Transcript

Episode notes

In America, on both right and left, we've learned to start all of our conversations from a position of moral absolutism. I would say that in many ways, the brightest future for Christianity might consist in the death of much of its cultural power. How should it have ended? Ah, now that's an interesting question. The last episode is a bit of a disappointment, but I think, I think it ended properly.

David Bentley Hart is an American writer, philosopher, religious scholar, critic, and theologian who has authored over 1,000 essays and 19 books, including a very well-known translation of the New Testament and several volumes of fiction.

In this conversation, Tyler and David discuss ways in which Orthodox Christianity is not so millenarian, how theological patience shapes the polities of Orthodox Christian nations, how Heidegger deepened his understanding of Christian Orthodoxy, who played left field for the Baltimore Orioles in 1970, the simplest way to explain how Orthodoxy diverges from Catholicism, the future of the American Orthodox Church, what he thinks of the Book of Mormon, whether theological arguments are ultimately based on reason or faith, what he makes of reincarnation and near-death experiences, gnosticism in movies and TV, why he dislikes Sarah Ruden’s translation of the New Testament, the most difficult word to translate, a tally of the 15+ languages he knows, what he’ll work on next, and more.

Read a full transcript enhanced with helpful links, or watch the full video.

Recorded March 23rd, 2023.

Other ways to connect

Follow us on Twitter and Instagram
Follow Tyler on Twitter
Join our Discord
Email us: cowenconvos@mercatus.gmu.edu
Learn more about Conversations with Tyler and other Mercatus Center podcasts here.